March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Crimeans heading to the ballot box
this week will get a taste of a different kind of democracy.

The referendum will offer voters the choice of joining
Russia or renegotiating the autonomous region’s status within
Ukraine. Keeping the current arrangement isn’t an option.

About 1.5 million voters will head to the polls on March 16
to make their choice for the peninsula in the focus of the
tensest standoff between Russia and the West since the Cold War.
As Vladimir Putin pours troops into the region, saying he needs
to protect its ethnic Russian majority, the government in Kiev
and its Western allies say the referendum is illegal.

“There’s no choice there, because there is no question in
it about preserving the status quo or simply expanding the
powers of the Crimean republic,” Oleksiy Haran, a professor of
comparative politics at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, said by phone
today. “It’s wrong to ponder about what questions the
referendum asks. It’s not legal. The decision to hold it was
made under guns and the referendum will be held under guns.”

Russia is wresting control of Crimea, home to its Black Sea
Fleet. The U.S. estimates the Kremlin now has 20,000 troops
confronting a smaller Ukrainian force there. The referendum was
called by a new leadership in the regional parliament, installed
after the building had been seized by armed Russia supporters.

The questions on the ballot, as released by the Crimean
parliament on its website, will be: “Do you support reuniting
Crimea with Russia as a subject of the Russian Federation?” and
“Do you support restoring the Crimean Republic’s 1992
Constitution and status within Ukraine?” The second option
refers to a law that gives the region the right to determine how
much authority to delegate to Kiev.

Observers Blocked

While the Ukrainian government wants international
observers to monitor the situation, gunmen have blocked three
attempts by a mission from the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe to enter Crimea, including with warning
shots being fired on March 8.

Russia should “strongly support” getting observers on the
ground in Crimea, Daniel Baer, the U.S.’s ambassador to the
OSCE, a 57-country organization that includes Russia and the
U.S., said in website statement dated yesterday. Russia isn’t
part of the mission.

Crimea’s First Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliev
said observers, not “provocateurs” were welcome, the Interfax
news service reported today. The OSCE mission includes mostly
representatives of the NATO countries and “we don’t need
military advisers here,” Temirgaliev said, according to
Interfax.

Tatar Boycott

Ethnic Russians make up 59 percent of the region’s
population, 24 percent are Ukrainian and 12 percent are ethnic
Tatars, according to the 2001 census. The Kiev-based Ukrainian
government says the country’s Russians aren’t under threat.

The Tatar community’s leaders called for a boycott of the
vote, according to Leyla Muslimova, a spokesman for Refat
Chubarov, who heads the minority’s executive body.

The region plans to print 2.2 million ballots for the vote,
while the number of registered voters was 1.5 million as of Feb.
28, the Kiev-based weekly newspaper Zerkalo Nedeli reported,
citing Mikhail Malyshev, the head of the electoral commission
head.

If voters choose to join Russia, they will be able to pick
between Russian and Ukrainian passports and will have two
official languages, Russian and Crimean Tatar, Crimean Premier
Sergey Aksenov said, the Ria Novosti news service reported
today.

To some in Crimea, the outcome isn’t a question.

“There’s no comeback, and the U.S. or Europe can’t impede
us,” Sergei Tsekov, the deputy speaker of Crimea’s parliament,
said March 7 by phone from Moscow. “Crimea won’t be part of
Ukraine anymore. There are no more options.”